Tequila (and its lesser-known sibling mezcal) are on the rise,
as Sarah Miller explains…

I may have been just ahead of the curve when I started to get geeky about gin, but my experience with tequila was a far more familiar and, frankly, clichéd one.

When I started at Manchester University in the late 1990s, the days of “Madchester” and the (in)famous Haçienda nightclub had drawn to a close, but the city’s hedonistic nightlife was still booming.

As a History of Art student unencumbered by tuition fees, I worked hard but played harder, and anthemic tunes like Chumbawamba’s ‘Tubthumping’ with its refrain of “He drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink…” aptly reflected the student culture of the time.

Terrorvision’s 1999 hit ‘Tequila (Mint Royale Shot)’ in particular captures the way the spirit was seen in the UK back then: “..so hard to say no [to], though it gives one the fever”. The pseudo-ritualistic slamming of shots with a lick of salt and a suck of lemon was the curse of tequila in the 90s and I, like many of my peers, swore off the spirit when I sobered up.

I didn’t touch a drop for the best part of 20 years, but tequila and I have both outgrown our party ‘til dawn lifestyles, and these days agave spirits are finally being appreciated for their complexity, variety and versatility.

Tequila’s largest market has always been North America, and with sales soaring it is on track to overtake vodka and become the most valuable spirits sub-category in the US.

Two key factors have contributed to its ascendency. Firstly, the Midas touch of A-list celebrities has introduced a diverse and global group of consumers to a new affordable luxury. Justin Timberlake and George Clooney were among the first to kick off the trend and since then an almost endless list of stars have jumped on the tequila and mezcal train, including AC/DC, Michael Jordan, Rita Ora, LeBron James, Dwayne Johnson, Kendall Jenner, Eva Longoria, Mark Wahlberg and most recently, Matthew McConaughey.

Secondly, the rise of cocktail culture has helped tequila shake off its late-night slammer reputation. With the spirit’s prominent character and diversity of styles, tequila can be savoured neat, in short full-strength cocktails – such as the US and UK’s favourite Margarita – or in lighter, longer highballs and ready-to-drink hard seltzers.

Given the landscape, it’s little wonder that when Taylor Swift was spotted at an NFL game sipping on a can of Casa Azul tequila soda (a brand in which her new love interest, Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, had invested) it made sales spike and caused headlines around the world.

Where the US leads, we all tend to follow, so it’s hardly surprising that tequila is gaining traction in other markets including Spain, Australia and Japan. Here in the UK, the growing interest in agave spirits and Mexican cuisine in general is palpable. Industry veteran Deano Moncrieffe launched London’s first agaveria, Hacha, in 2019 with a second site following in 2021, as Mexican restaurants such as KOL and Cavita also opened. Festivals celebrating the spirit have been popping up in London and Glasgow, and Hacha’s multi-award winning Mirror Margarita (a crystal-clear twist on the classic cocktail) is even available to purchase in a ready-to-serve format in supermarkets nationwide.

Tequila and (to a lesser extent) mezcal still dominate the category, with more flavoured expressions (and even a gin cut with agave spirit) entering the UK market, but it seems likely that, with time, their popularity will also boost other agave-adjacent spirits such as raicilla, bacanora, and sotol (which already has a celebrity backer in the form of Lenny Kravitz).

In the meantime, we might need to tell those Swifties to calm down. Rumour has it that some foolish ones are taking a shot of tequila every time they cut to Taylor during NFL coverage. That’s one 90s trend that definitely doesn’t need to make a comeback.

Sarah Miller is a UK-based spirits writer, judge and consultant.
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